The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) is an initiative funded by international donors including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation. AGRA works to enhance agricultural productivity in Africa by training smallholder farmers, supporting the development of high-yielding seed varieties, and ensuring that farmers have access to good quality seeds, tools, and fertiliser. AGRA’s Program for Africa’s Seed Systems (PASS) provides grants and scholarships to agricultural scientists who take their knowledge into local communities, working with farmers to see which seed varieties best suit their land. AGRA works on innovative ways to make these seeds and other supplies widely available to rural farmers. Since 2006, AGRA has trained and certified over 5,000 new agro-dealers, and aims to reach 9,000 by 2011. This is having a real impact on farmers: in 2006 in Western Kenya, for example, a farmer had to travel an average of 17 kilometres to an agro-dealer to purchase seeds and fertiliser; today that distance is an average of five kilometres. AGRA has also provided loan guarantees through which farmers can access credit to purchase supplies that will boost their yields.

-Beth Adler